Paul Kirk
A report that sought to clear the University of Durban Westville’s (UDW) highly controversial vice-chancellor Mapule Ramashala during a vote of no confidence has been slammed as a “worthless whitewash using taxpayers’ money”.
The report by Mandla Adonisi of Adonisi and Associates has set the scene for the worst confrontation the university has faced. Some of UDW’s most senior academics are threatening to resign and at least one is taking legal action against Ramashala because of the content of the report.
The report, which was commissioned at a cost of R120 000, seeks to blame almost everyone except Ramashala for problems at the university. It was described as a “disgrace” by a UDWcouncil member.
Members of the council were given only a few minutes to read the report at a meeting last weekend. They were not allowed to take copies. The council was then instructed to vote by a show of hands whether Ramashala was competent, although they usually vote by secret ballot. Ramashala was present during the vote.
Adonisi consulted with only 50 people when he drafted the report out of a staff complement of more than 1 300. Student organisations were not consulted at all, although the UDW Students’ Representative Council was party to a senate vote of no confidence in Ramashala last year. She had been accused of incompentence, mismanagement and other offences, including being responsible for the death of a student after she called police on to campus to enforce her ruling that people could not gather in groups of more than 15.
The report included a number of bar graphs, which show that while faculty members do not support Ramashala, senior managers are “lukewarm” towards her. In some instances only four or five people including Ramashala contributed to Adonisi’s sample group.
The report claims that the university’s finances have improved under Ramashala’s leadership. However, it only includes one year’s operating figures.
Last year UDW was taken to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) by aggrieved staffers 119 times. The university lost 100 cases. Hundreds of thousands of rands have been spent on legal costs, which are expected to escalate sharply when the CCMA cases are finalised and costs awarded against the university.
Rather than suggesting this may be because of a poor management style, the report suggests on page 9 that this may be because a senior human resources manager has a “history of mental illness”.
The compilers of the report made no attempt to ascertain if this claim is true. The human resources manager was given no opportunity to offer a defence.
Profesor Thandwa Mthembu, deputy vice-chancellor in charge of academic affairs and research, also gets a roasting in the report. “As someone put it: ‘He wants too much too soon,'” it reads.
It then quotes an unnamed source: “Why does he meet with ASA [the Academic Staff Association] in the middle of a vote of no confidence when all of us who are Africans on campus are saying to hell with these Indians, we’re not giving them this campus. There is an Indian camp on campus whose agenda is to bring back an Indian leadership, to bring back an Indian identity and culture to this campus.
“It is alleged that this is the camp that Professor Mthembu has fallen prey to because of his greed for power and ambition.”
Mthembu told the Mail & Guardian that he has not seen the report. He said no attempt had been made to obtain his viewpoint. “I believe I will now have to take legal action. This report is deeply insulting to me as it insinuates I am stupid enough to be easily manipulated.”
The report says the construction of speed humps around the campus was a success story as, before Ramashala’s appointment, campus roads were “like Kyalami”.
A page-and-a-half of the report proposes solutions to problems at UDW. The human resources department, the report finds, “requires surgery”.
The report calls for greater discipline, but quotes one source, in bold typeface, as saying: “Getting staff to be discipline [sic] is problematic.”
It says faculty members should display a greater sense of loyalty to UDW. Although it does not suggest any dismissals, it quotes one nameless academic as saying that the generally likeable and efficient Kiru Naidoo “should go” as the university has been receiving a great deal of bad press. Naidoo is the hard-pressed public affairs representative of the university. The same academic felt the allegedly mentally ill senior human resources manager should also go.
The report says one academic believed that unless Ramashala was retained UDW may be taken over by the larger University of Natal.
The nameless source continued: “There is no alternative, Professor Mthembu is still too new and could be manipulated easily. It makes logical sense that Professor Ramashala should complete the sterling work she started.”
The report says: “Evidence abounds … that there is a subversive core element that is bent on destroying this university. Council needs to decisively deal with this element.” The report does not suggest who the subversives are.
Professor Kanthan Pillay the only person who voted against Ramashala told the Mail & Guardian he immediately asked that the subversive elements be identified and disciplined.
“But nothing happened. The council could not identify the subversive elements,” said Pillay.
Asked for comment, Naidoo, speaking on Ramashala’s behalf, replied: “The report that the M&G purports to have in its possession is a confidential document of the university council, which is still under discussion. It would serve no constructive purpose to go into its detail at this time.”